Narrative
Type = American Hybrid. Flower = Female. Per Galet (see citation): [about V. cinerea Engelmann] "Growing tip: felty white with rose margin, ashlike appearance, flat; stipules brownish-green. Young leaves: downy, gray with rose margin on upper surface, felty white below. Leaf: cordiform, medium in Montpellier, but large in some places in the United States (28 by 23 cm), 357-5-35 to 58, usually entire, rarely five-lobed (V. cinerea canesceans), soft, very bullate, dull, ash-gray, cobwebby-pubescent on both sides; small, nearly flat teeth; petiolar sinus lyre-shaped open or closed depending on the type; petioles downy-pubescent. Shoot: ash-gray, downy-pubescent, ribbed, thin. Flower cluster: very small, male or female. Cluster: conical, loose, medium-large, winged; berries round, black, small, thick skin, very little juice, acid flavor. Seeds: medium, 5 mm, chestnut colored, shiny with clear yellow beak and indentations; chalaza circular, .49, in small depression encircled with a few rediating lines, very short beak, protuberant raphe. Growth habit: very vigorous, climbing. [ ... ] V. cinerea has several common names: Parra silvestre (in Mexico), Ashy-leaved grape, Sweet winter, Downy, Ashy, Gray black, and Wichita grape. In the past confused with aestivalis, cinerea was officially named a distinct species in 1883 by George Engelmann. [ ... ] Cinerea has a good resistance to phylloxera and the leaves do not carry the galls. However, it is chlorotic in limy soils and is extremely difficult to root, which rules out its usefulness as a rootstock. The maturity of the wood is often deficient at the time of the first frost owing to its late ripening. The resistance to fungus diseases is excellent, downy mildew, and black rot in particular. At present, the only cultivated descendants of cinerea are Black Spanish and Herbemont (aestivalis-cinerea-vinifera)."